Baptismal Regeneration?
by Terry Wane Benton
I have been accused from time to time in believing in “baptismal regeneration” because I believe baptism is the moment of salvation (Mark 16:16; Colossians 2:12-13), remission of sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16), and regeneration (Acts 2:38,41; Titus 3:5). But like many topics there is a misunderstanding because people have their own backgrounds that tend to create concepts that are not true to the scriptures. For example, some people think of “baptism” as an act disconnected from faith and repentance. They think of God blessing the single act of applying water to a baby or even a very misinformed adult. To them, it is the application of the water that regenerates a baby or even a compliant adult. I don’t believe in “baptismal regeneration.” I do believe in the “washing of regeneration" happening at baptism in the name of the Lord. I don’t believe that baptism (immersion) is actually the baptism God demands if you are talking about an act of immersion separated from belief and repentance.
Separated from belief in Jesus and separated from repentance, the act of immersion does nothing but get a baby wet or get an uninformed adult wet. There are Catholics who believe in baptismal regeneration. I don’t! What gives the act of immersion any validity at all is the faith in Jesus that seeks to unite with Him and “in His name” bury the old me, unite with His death, His blood, and rise up together with Him to walk in “newness of life” (Romans 6:3-6).
Regeneration is powered by faith in Jesus, without which no restart can happen. A baby does not go into immersion seeking Jesus to cut his sins away. He has no concept of burying the old sinful self with a determination to unite with Jesus’ death and rise up united together with Him to walk a new life. So, that baby just got wet. Nothing changed. There is no restart or regeneration attached to that immersion.
My brother was older and bigger than I, and I recall that while we were playing in the lake, he grabbed me and said he was “baptizing” me. He force-dunked me under the water against my will. Did that “regenerate” me? Not at all! Even if a preacher did the same thing to me, there would be no regeneration happening in me. Even if the preacher claimed he was doing it “in the name of the Lord”, it would not be true, and there would be no real regeneration involved at all.
Regeneration is powered on God’s side through the gospel that has to be understood (Romans 1:16). “Those that gladly received the word were baptized” (Acts 2:41). It is empowered on our side through faith that wants to “repent”, start a new direction in life with Jesus as our companion. Baptism is simply the moment God cuts away our sins through our faith in His operation (Colossians 2:12-13). “Through faith in the operation of God” and He said He operates to cut away our sins when we “repent and are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 2:38). This is the “washing of regeneration” (Titus 3:5). The washing takes place when faith and repentance combine with baptism (Acts 22:16). Saul believed and was penitent for three days, but the “washing” had not yet occurred. That “washing” takes place in penitent faith-driven baptism. So, a penitent believer’s baptism in the name of Jesus is in fact the moment of the “washing of regeneration.” The water itself does not do the washing. Jesus’ blood does the washing. Baptism is the moment of uniting with Jesus and His blood. This is not the concept of “baptismal regeneration” as taught by some groups.
Regeneration is beginning when the heart hears and understands the gospel of what Jesus did for us, and faith is starting to move us to repentance and baptism in the name of Jesus, and regeneration is completed when we bury the old self in baptism, uniting our hearts with Jesus’ blood, and believing that God operates to cut our sins away so we can then rise up to walk in “newness of life.” Notice that the newness of life is on the other side of our penitent baptism into Christ. “Newness of life” is not before baptism. It is as we come up from that baptism that “newness of life” begins, and so “the washing of regeneration” is at this moment, not before this moment.
The Bible places the washing of regeneration at the moment of baptism, through penitent faith in Jesus. Immersion without penitent faith is not regeneration at all. But immersion through penitent faith in Jesus is the moment of the “washing of regeneration.” Saul was not regenerated until he called on the Lord in baptism. That is when the washing of regeneration takes place. I hope you can see the difference.
